Should Grammar Be Taught Summary

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Recommended: The role of grammar in the second language classroom

The article talks about whether teachers should teach grammar or not. It talks about how correcting ESL/ELL students grammar fails because of Gray’s four reasons which are “grammar correction deals with “only the surface appearance of grammar and not with the way language develops” (par. 8), language and grammar acquisition occur developmentally and hierarchically: “if a student is given a correction for a [language/grammar] stage he has not yet reached, it would not be effective” (par. 8), teacher and student understanding of grammar comments vary greatly, students “only make mental note of the corrections they have understood, and if they have to rewrite their papers, regularly do not incorporate these corrections into their work” (Gray, …show more content…

In order for the students to understand grammar, they have to practice, practice, and practice some more. It is up to the teacher to see if they are up to the task of teaching the students correct grammar or not. English has always been one of the hardest subjects for me because I did not have an effective English teachers to teach me a lot of the rules that apply to grammar. So, I believe that teacher should teach the students grammar because this will help them become better writers in the long run. For the people who said that correcting student’s grammar does not help the students, I would have to disagree. If the teacher is consistent and constantly tells the students that they are making a certain grammar mistake on their paper, then the students might be more aware of their mistakes. The reason it is hard for students to break the habit of writing correctly is because they have written it incorrectly for so long. Also, their previous teachers never took the time to correct their mistakes. I know that I struggle with writing papers because my English teachers never sat down with me and discuss why my writing was incorrect and how it could be fixed. I did not get the individual attention I needed when I was in middle school and high school. So, if the teachers believe that correcting their grammar is a waste of time because the students do not fix it immediately, then I believe that the teachers are at fault for not helping the

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