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Based on my 15 years of experience teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), the statement “grammar instruction should be implicit, not explicit” could be argued both for and against. Whether teaching grammar as an approach drawn from ELT (English Language Teaching) or more passively as an inductive and comprehensive topic has been the subject of countless debates by institutions, teachers, grammarians, and language researchers for decades. Grammar is the branch of linguistics that deals with the form and structure of words or morphology, and their interrelation in sentences, called syntax. The study of grammar reveals how the language works, an important aspect of both acquiring and learning English.

In the early 20th century, grammarians such as the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas and the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen began to describe languages, and Boas’s work formed the basis for various types of study of American descriptive grammar. Jespersen’s work was the forerunner of current approaches to linguistic theory such as Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar.

Chomsky, who studied structural linguistics, sought to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar. This led him to see grammar as a theory of the structure of language rather than a description of actual sentences. His idea of ​​grammar is that it is a device for producing the structure, not of a particular language, but of the ability to produce and understand sentences in each and every language. Since grammar is the means by which we can understand how a language “works”, a definitive study of the grammar of the language is essential to the study of the language.

However, strictly explicit grammar study, and even grammar-focused lessons, are often not communication-based. Therefore, they can be boring, cumbersome and difficult for students to assimilate. Strict grammar / structure teaching, except with students of the Logical – Mathematical or Verbal – Linguistic multiple intelligences, can be frustrating and highly ineffective.

Teaching grammar must be implicit

In the early 20th century, Jespersen, like Boas, thought that grammar should be studied by examining living speech rather than by analyzing written documents. By providing grammar in context, implicitly, we can expose students to substantial doses of grammar study without alienating them from learning English or another foreign language. I also agree with this implicit approach to teaching grammar. The main way I achieve this is by teaching short grammar-based sessions immediately followed by additional function-based lessons in which the new grammar / structure is applied in context.

The hypothesis is that adult language learners have two different ways of developing skills and knowledge in a second language, acquisition and learning. Acquiring a language is “learning” it, that is, developing the ability in a language by using it in natural communicative situations. Language learning differs in that it is “knowing the rules” and having a conscious knowledge of grammar / structure. Adults acquire language, although usually not as easily or as well as children. However, acquisition is the most important means of acquiring language skills. A person’s first language (L1) is learned primarily in this way. This way of developing language skills typically employs the teaching and learning of implicit grammar.

Teaching grammar must be explicit

However, this does not entirely preclude the explicit teaching of grammar. Some basic features of the grammatical structure of the English language are illogical or different from those of speakers of other languages ​​and do not easily lend themselves to being well understood, even in context. In cases where the characteristics of English grammar are diametrically opposite or in some other way radically different from the student’s L1 form of expression, explicit teaching may be necessary.

Aspects of English language grammar that may offer an exceptional challenge to learners of English as a foreign language include the use of word order, determiners (this, that, these, those, a, an, the), prepositions ( en, on, en, por, para, de, de), auxiliaries (to do, to be, to have), conjunctions (but, thus, however, therefore, although, although), interrogatives, intensifiers (some, any, few, more, too) and distinctions between modal verbs (can, could, should, should, can, could, must). Phrasal verbs also present considerable difficulty for Spanish speakers learning communicative English.

Some students are also linguistically prejudiced or logical thinkers who respond well to structured presentation of new material. Students of logical-mathematical and verbal-linguistic intelligence are prime examples of those who would respond well to explicit teaching of grammar in many cases.

Based on my English language teaching and my experience of learning a second and third foreign language (L2, L3), a unique approach using implicit or explicit methodologies is not as effective as using one or the other of these approaches as needed . Although it is essential to teach elements of language and develop communication skills in our students, there is no better way to introduce and practice them. Young learners have a more natural facility for acquisition, while adults can benefit substantially from more “formal” language learning. Learning styles and intelligence strengths are also an important factor.

There are many generally accepted ways of presenting the sounds, structure, and vocabulary of English, including colloquial forms of conversation and the four basic communication skills. The grammar foresees the “communicative economy”. Teaching grammar should be implicit or explicit, as teaching / learning conditions may require that you help to minimize the response of students that teachers fear most: “Teacher, I don’t understand.”

Note: The academic references for this article are available upon request.

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