Is it possible to speak English fluently as a second language without learning grammar? From my rich experience, the answer is no! Over the years I have taught quite a few students who have reached the level of English as a mother tongue but still continue to make mistakes. This is because they had no idea about the grammatical agreement about how words should be combined in a sentence. What is grammar anyway? If we ask students this question, we will almost certainly get the following answers: Laws of the times Unclear rules Nonsensical rules Much unusual So first of all I want you to leave the idea that grammar is rules. This is a definition that is not correct or particularly fun. It will not motivate you to learn grammar successfully. So how do we define grammar? It can be said that in every language there is an agreement among the people who speak it regarding the order of words in a sentence.
The idea behind this agreement is that people will understand us and that we can express ourselves clearly. Without knowledge of the grammar, we simply won't be clear.
So our new definition of grammar is: "the study of the way we use words to make a sentence".
Understanding students' difficulties in learning grammar and the reasons for them
An absolute majority of students simply hate learning the subject.
The reason for this difficulty is that these laws have nothing to do with them and therefore bore them.Most students, even those who seem to succeed in the subject, do not assimilate the grammar.
Some learners may score 100 on a test but still construct sentences that are not correct. Sometimes they will repeat the subject every year, as if learning it for the first time.
The reason for students' lack of assimilation is not practicing grammar in a useful language. For the most part, students learn grammar as a set of rules, as another subject called "grammar".Students do not really understand the material in grammar.
The reasons for this are:
The way of looking at many students is that grammar in English is a material that is studied for a test and the goal is to succeed in the test.
As a result, many students learn grammar with the help of all kinds of hints that help them succeed in the test. An example of this is students' use of the technique of certain time words that imply to them that it is a certain time. You understand that they don't really know the material.
There is a problem with teaching grammar. I remember as a student how I liked it! When I would ask the teacher for an explanation, many times the answer was "that's how it is".
It is possible that many teachers simply speak the language and have no idea why words are used in a certain way.
By the way, as a former student who had trouble finding answers to grammar questions at school, and after realizing that my students were experiencing the same difficulty, I researched the topic a lot.
How to learn grammar successfully?
So, as you understood, by cultivating a more positive attitude to learning grammar among the students, using appropriate content and a correct form of study.
Changing the approach to learning grammar
Since many students do not connect to the study of the laws, they have difficulty understanding and internalizing them in the long term.
At the beginning of the study, it is important to cultivate together with the students a different approach to learning grammar. Students must understand that grammar is not a set of oppressive rules but simply an agreement about how to construct a sentence that allows them to be understood and express themselves better.
Practical study
Studying should not be studying for the sake of grammar where you sit and analyze structures that have no use other than practical study.
Examples of practical learning are understanding how a sentence in the English language is composed. For example: there must be a subject and a verb. I go is already a sentence.
Another example of practical learning is the use of common everyday content.
In addition, the student must understand that each language is different and cannot be translated from language to language. It is not possible to translate the Hebrew sentence "have I car" word for word because in English the words are said in a different order: I have a car.
And of course, to give the closest connections to the student's world. For example, demonstrate simple past tense by talking about an event in the student's past.