What Exactly is Grammar?
Grammar is not an especially well understood topic, and many peoples' common understanding of grammar is that it is a broad term which encompasses virtually anything relating to literacy. In internet culture, grammar, or lack thereof, is most commonly associated with poor spelling and punctuation (Macken-Horarik, Love & Unsworth, 2011). However, spelling and punctuation do not technically fall under the umbrella of "grammar". So what is grammar? Grammar can be divided into three parts (all definitions taken from Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl & Holliday, 2010):
SYNTAX:
The rules which govern the manner in which words can be correctly organised into sentences. For example, in English, we would say "the dog wagged his tail", but syntax governs that in common speech we would never say "his tail the dog wagged", although this syntax might be perfectly acceptable in other languages.
MORPHOLOGY:
The patterns surrounding the way that words are formed including grammatical markers which indicate details such as tense, gender and number. This includes the use of;
Prefixes and Suffixes:
Letters added to the beginning or end of a root word to give context or add other meaning, eg: happy= unhappy (prefix) or happier (suffix).
Derivations:
Words often gain new meanings over time, and do not necessarily still apply to their original meaning.
SEMANTICS:
The study of how words are formed and change over time.
SYNTAX:
The rules which govern the manner in which words can be correctly organised into sentences. For example, in English, we would say "the dog wagged his tail", but syntax governs that in common speech we would never say "his tail the dog wagged", although this syntax might be perfectly acceptable in other languages.
MORPHOLOGY:
The patterns surrounding the way that words are formed including grammatical markers which indicate details such as tense, gender and number. This includes the use of;
Prefixes and Suffixes:
Letters added to the beginning or end of a root word to give context or add other meaning, eg: happy= unhappy (prefix) or happier (suffix).
Derivations:
Words often gain new meanings over time, and do not necessarily still apply to their original meaning.
SEMANTICS:
The study of how words are formed and change over time.
Why is Teaching Grammar so Important?
The obvious answer behind why we should teach grammar is that the better a student's understanding of grammar, the more efficiently they should be able to use it. Mart (2013) suggests that having a good understanding of grammar will allow students to organise sentences in ways which are clear, effective and meaningful to their audience, both written and spoken. This sources suggests that those students with an inadequate knowledge of grammar tend to be more likely to make mistakes such as using double negatives and misusing the pronouns "who" and "whom". The consensus from most sources tends to be that grammar teaching does help to improve students’ writing skills, but only when it is taught effectively by a teacher who has a thorough knowledge of the material (Hudson, 2001; Myhill, Lines & Watson, 2012). Myhill, Lines and Watson (2012) found that teachers who were not confident in the topic of grammar were anxious when teaching and sometimes gave the students incorrect answers to questions on grammar, whereas those who knew the subject well gained far better results and were able to expand on students’ questions and further develop their understanding of grammar. Unfortunately, there are a startlingly high number of both pre-service teachers and practicing primary teachers who possess an inadequate knowledge of grammar. Many of these teachers are totally unaware that they have such deficits, and some even believe themselves to be highly proficient in the topic (Harper & Rennie, 2008). This poor grammatical understanding may be due, in part, to the troubled background surrounding grammar education, which is outlined in "Traditional Vs Functional Grammar".